Basil Update

Basil's ACL has been slowly tearing since January. The orthopedic surgeon told me it could completely tear at any time and there was no telling when it would happen.  Well, Sunday it happened.  You can see in the video him not wanting to put any weight on it or resting his toes on the ground on his right hind foot.

Sunday they called me back after I left a message and asked me to bring him in Monday morning. Monday they called to confirm his ligament had torn completely and he'd be having surgery the following day.  His ACL was repaired using the suture technique where two strong sutures are put in to mimic his ACL. Dr. Hay said this technique was highly successful in corgis since they typically have lots of muscle mass to handle it and recover quickly.

Last night I called and the tech said he was doing great. He ate all his dinner and went potty for him. Said he was a happy little guy and he'd give him a kiss for me.  (I'm definitely sending a huge thank you card to Dr. Hay and his staff).

Today he comes home! I set up a little area in the back room where he will be for several weeks when we are at work.  The real danger with ACL tears and recovery is reinjuring it on a slippery surface.  Anywhere Basil needs to walk in the house has to be covered with rugs or towels to prevent him from losing traction and slipping.  I've washed all the crate towels and blankets in the house and he will get my old bath towel to sleep in so he feels safe.

The other doggies haven't acted any different. Secretly I think Bernie is hoping Byron disappears as well so she can go back to being an only corgi.  I hope they let him rest when we get home and don't annoy him.

I plan on swimming Basil in the big garden tub once his incision heals to help him rehab his knee and keep his leg strong. I think him wearing the life vest it'll be deep enough that he can't touch the bottom and I can have him swim in place for a few minutes at a time. He likes to swim as long as I'm there with him so I don't think it'll be stressful.

Byron is doing well! We haven't been to agility in several weeks unfortunately due to various things but he is having fun at home running around the yard with Bernie.  Sometimes I catch them playing together.  I think she actually likes him!

A Pinball Outing and Basil Update

Yesterday we drove up to Maitland (a bit North of Orlando) to attend the first annual Southern Pinball Festival.  They were holding it all weekend but Saturday was the only day I could go up there for everything.  They had over 100 machines you could play from many different decades.  Photography wasn't the easiest given the lighting so I had to turn my ISO way up.  I got a few decent photos.

At 1PM we had the pleasure of listening to Gary Stern talk about his company Stern Pinball, the only manufacturers of pinball machines right now. He told us a little bit about how sales are going, their design process, and what they see in pinball's future.

In lieu of getting a photo with him I later ended up playing pinball right next to him!

Afterwards we had a few beers at a nearby Irish pub and then called it quits. It was a really fun day.  I was happy to see Ringo even try playing pinball.  He enjoyed some of the older machines more than the newer ones. We both really liked the new Tron LE table and Lord of the Rings.  I hope one day we can get a table for the house rec room.

In other news, Basil had his 6 month checkup with the orthopedic vet.  His condition has gotten worse with his right rear knee. The limping is more pronounced and he doesn't like to put weight on it. Dr. Hay recommended trying a month of steroids to see how he responds and if that would give him any relief.  I immediately saw a difference on the first day of steroid use. I'm hoping this will keep him comfortable until it is time for ACL surgery.  That might be a year away.

Today I've got a meeting at 1PM with the current vice-president of my quilt guild to go over some things I'll be taking over from her starting in January. Then I get to come home and start working on a few sewing projects I've got going on.

Making Lemonade

This morning was the appointment with the orthopedic specialist Dr. Hay.  He looked at Basil's x-rays and then did an exam of him on the floor.  Basil was quiet and stood quite still letting Dr. Hay check him all over.  

So from Dr. Hay's experience he feels it is the beginnings of a tear of his right knee ligament.  He said it might even be so small it is microscopic but he could feel swelling and with the symptoms Basil has, he is pretty sure it is a knee issue.  He says corgis are lucky in that they are quite muscular so it helps to hold the knee properly in place and not let it luxate too much.  Basil in particular is in good shape and Dr. Hay loved his disposition saying how sweet and calm he was and that most corgis are quite feisty and don't like him to examine them.

While the tear is small, this is a career ending injury.  The ligament will tear completely in the future at some point and doing agility will put too much stress on it.  So for now, we want to prevent that ligament from tearing as long as possible.  

I'm sad that I won't be able to train or compete in agility with Basil anymore.  He does have a lot of fun doing it and I love doing it with him.  Hopefully he will be just as happy playing with Bernie and Byron at home.  Dr. Hay recommended I swim him as much as possible to help keep his muscle tone so I'll be doing that a lot over the summer.  He loves to swim and fetch his toys in the water so that should be fun for us. I may bring him to a trial to do a fun Tunnelers course every so often since that doesn't require any jumping at all.

And now Byron will really start getting some agility training in!  That should be fun.  He is such a confident little big puppy.  He is quite heavy now.  I can't pick him up with one arm anymore because of how heavy and long he is. 

More Info on Basil's Hip

I just got off the phone with Basil's vet since I needed some clarification on what went on with his hip and how it could be going in and out of joint without showing signs of hip dysplasia.

She explained to me how they test the hips prior to the x-ray to see how well they rotate in the joint.  It is called Ortolani Sign.  He was positive for it in his left hip at about a 45 degree angle. 

The "Ortilani sign" is a test your veterinarian may perform during examination of your dog. Presence of the "Ortolani sign" indicates joint laxity in a young animal, but does not mean necessarily that the dog will develop hip dysplasia.

See video of it being performed 2 minutes in:

She told me usually when the hip does that she will see hip dysplasia on the x-ray but it didn't show up with Basil.  This means he has a ligament that has torn and now his hip isn't staying in the joint like it should.  

There isn't any way to tell if rest is going to fix it.  Dr. Ricci is hoping that rest will help more connective tissue to form around the area so the leg will stay in place better.  He does seem to be responding to the Rimadyl and glucosamine supplement, I haven't seen him limp since he's started them.   She will check and x-ray again next month to see how things have turned out.  

I asked her about surgery to repair the ligament and she said that is usually only done for dogs that have problems keeping the hip in joint a majority of the time and even then, the mobility the dog has afterwards isn't great.  If Basil was to get some sort of surgical intervention she felt he would be worse off than he is now.  

So I'm seriously looking at having to retire him permanently. I can have a specialist look at him to get a second opinion if we get bad news next month or the lameness continues.  I don't want him to be in pain just to do agility.  Bernie might have another pet dog in the house now. 

Doing everything I can to not cry at work now.

Please Hold. Someone will be with you shortly.

Trying to limit this activity is hard!

Well Basil is on rest for a month so no agility training until he gets the all-clear from his vet.  He's been having some on and off lameness with his back legs for about 6 weeks and I got him looked at.  Turns out his left hip is coming in and out of socket randomly which is causing his right side to overcompensate and creates lameness.  Thankfully he isn't showing any signs of hip dysplasia - I don't know how that happens but it is what it is.  So he's on Rimadyl and a joint supplement every day until he gets checked out again.  Crossing my fingers we'll be back in April and we might be able to make a May night trial before the season is over. 

Keeping a corgi "calm" is kind of hard when we're talking about Basil who loves to run.  He's the corgi that gets chased around the yard by Bernie and instigates the chasing games. 

So of course I'm worried about that since we both love to do agility together and I don't want to give that up.  If it ends up being too painful of course I won't do it anymore but I'm hoping we can get it fixed so he can continue to play agility with me.

In other news, I'm just gearing up for the cruise that we leave on in less than two weeks.  Trying to get all my laundry done and get the suitcases out so I can start packing and organizing everything.   I'll have to do a batch of Bernie's food early so the boarding place has enough on hand for her meals.  Since Basil is on meds I'll have to pack that also.  Poor Byron thinks he is missing out when he doesn't get special meds in the morning, all he gets is kibble.

So pretty much it has been work, dogs, quilting and trying to keep the house from falling down around my ears lately.  I need a break.  Here are some videos in case you've missed them:

Slow Weekend

The weekend was started off nicely with my boss taking out most of us for a round at the local pub before I headed home.  I tried a new IPA but wasn't impressed with it.  Thus, I didn't remember the name of the IPA and I don't regret forgetting that one.  We had a huge storm blow in right as I parked my car at the pub so my jeans got totally soaked as I waded to the door.  We went out that night for dinner with our friends and then just relaxed at home.

We watched two movies this weekend.  Daybreakers (vampire movie) which I'd already seen in the theater but Ringo hadn't and Harry Brown which was new to both of us.  Ringo liked Daybreakers and we both liked Harry Brown. I'm a sucker for any movie with Michael Caine. The movie is a bit slow to get going but once it does hang on for the ride.

Bernie and Basil always love movie night because they get to cuddle on the couch. Bernie floats back and forth until we stop petting her and then she crams herself into a corner of the couch. Basil gets uneasy with the thunder so he ends up climbing into my lap until the rain calms down.

Saturday we ran some errands before settling at home again. Basil went with us for a trip since he won a photo contest at a local pet store. He hates having to stand still in a crate for a car ride and not be able to look out the window. I just don't feel safe keeping him in a car harness. We got some toys for Byron and a food bowl. I picked out a toy for Basil. Our goodie bag had tons of treats in it. I'm set for agility for a while.

My friend Ella from Iceland was very kind and sent Bernie some fish treats to try out. I'm sure she will love it.

The dogs have been squirreling away toilet paper rolls. Basil has always enjoyed them but now Bernie has gotten in on the action. I'll see her pull out a shredded piece to gnaw on and have no idea where she got it from.

Yesterday I was determined to finish quilting my pinwheel quilt so I got that done. I also had to make Bernie's food for the next two weeks. I was going to make a months worth but realized I was short two eggs and some plain yogurt for the second batch so I skipped it. I did manage to climb onto my kitchen counter to change out the burned out bulb finally. Now to do the other 25 things on my list and I'll be good.

Tonight, if we don't get rained out, Basil will do some agility. Since Byron is coming home on the 15th it cuts into the CPE trial that weekend so I'm just going to enter him in one day and see how we do. Won't cost me a ton of money and I (hopefully) won't be there all day since Byron will be at home with Ringo.

Since we've tossed around a ton of names I still haven't gotten used to calling the puppy Byron. I need to come up with a registered name that is cute. The breeder posted a cute blog showing the pups with their sire and dam having some fun. He's gonna be huge by the time he comes home.

Possible registered names:
Cornerstone's Byron the Charmer
Cornerstone's Three's a Charming Byron
Cornerstone's Byron is Thrice as Nice
Cornerstone's Byron Blue Boy
Cornerstone's Byron the Don Juan

I have plans to make the breeder a wallhanging featuring Cardis. I've got a little bit of it done and decided I needed to re-think the outline stitch. I'm gonna do raw edge appliqué for the first time so that the details stand out. I have two blocks cut and the Cardigan ironed on, need to re-do my third one as I messed it up trying to re-stitch a satin stitch around it. The cutout is small so I can't turn corners easily and have it show up nicely. I did some research and saw that raw edge might solve my problem. Worse comes to worse, I'll hand blanket stitch the whole thing.

Training, or lack thereof

I haven't posted much about dog training because, since Bernie got sick earlier this year, I haven't been doing a whole lot of it. Basil and I do work on agility for fun (we both enjoy it and have fun together) and I do some shaping with Bernie once in a while but other than that we're at the point where we kind of just work on maintenance behaviors.

Her illness just completely wore me out mentally. I wasn't able to do training with her for a while for fear of causing an imbalance with her urinary pH by introducing some sort of treat that didn't jive with her new diet. Even using the treats the vet suggested I use left me with guilt after doing a training session because I knew they were not as healthy as the ones I normally use and I was still scared that she would get sick again and it would be my fault. My brain is evil to me sometimes making me feel guilty for things I cannot control.  My solution was just to not train her.

Even after switching her to a raw diet in May I was constantly scared she'd get worse again. The nutritionist said giving her some baked chicken breast wouldn't hurt her diet but I still wanted to give it time to see how she reacted to it.

Poor Basil was caught in the middle. Agility was pretty much the only thing I did with him during the worst of it. A few weeks ago I did some shaping with him, the same time I did the paper bag shaping with Bernie.

Basil was shaped to sit on a mat so we could work some more on start line stay training. It is still working well. It takes him longer to get an idea than Bernie and I have to use some different techniques. I have to do more luring with him since he gets frustrated with shaping and gives up after a time. I've tended to use more shaping with him when he's scared of an object to help him interact with it than to use shaping to teach a new behavior.

At the agility trial he hated the crate fan I hung on the side of the crate. I ended up shaping him to touch it with his nose in about 5 minutes. Very useful. He hates having wind blown in his face.

Shes Part Shark

Basil does very obvious tongue flicks when he's nervous or unsure about something. So obvious my husband noticed them and he isn't very observant. I caught one in a picture once (right).  I first learned about tongue flicks when reading Dr. McConnell's book For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend.  (You can read a excerpt on tongue flicks here.)  He's a great dog to watch to see stress signals since he does them in an exaggerated way, briefly, all the time.  He does them to Bernie.   I see him do it at home for various reasons.  Sometimes he'll do it at my classes when I bring him as a neutral dog.  I've learned a lot watching his body language as he interacts with different things since I know he isn't the most confident dog in the world.  He is very careful, calculating and hesitant.  This made training things like the teeter challenging but still fun in the end when I watch him charge forward with excitement as we work on it.

So over the coming months my goal is to work more on training with my dogs.  Bernie needs enrichment being that she is too smart for her own good.  Even though I can't do much agility with her (due to her left shoulder) she still likes to do training.  I might start writing down some chained behaviors to train her.  I thought about trying out Rally but I just can't afford to compete in two different venues. 

Basil and I are still learning about each other on the agility course.  Thankfully he is very patient with me and doesn't get frustrated as I try to get my cues correct.  He will continue to try over and over.  Bernie would stop, get frustrated and turn off or she'd just bark at me out of frustration.  She has a low threshold for mistakes.

News from the Cardi breeder last night.  Each day it's looking more and more like Sumo is the pup for us.  He was the first out of the whelping box and the first to explore various things.  :)